A BIT ABOUT US

We are Steve Linford and Anne Beamish – the founders of Indie Cambridge.

As both long-term residents of the city and avid independent (indie) supporters, you can imagine our dismay and anger when, in 2010, a think tank voted Cambridge ‘number one clone town’. In its report Reimagining the High Street, The New Economics Foundation called the city centre a ‘clone zone’ – with a ‘bland and homogenous offering’. Although this may be true in some areas of Cambridge, we wanted to prove that this is only part of the story. Alongside the usual chain stores and overbearing corporates there are fantastic indies – doing things their own way and doing them extremely well.

So, in 2012 we decided to form our own independent company, to celebrate the diversity and individuality unique to the local indie scene. This allowed us to combine our local knowledge with our writing, photography and design skills to produce a series of 3 books and set up our website dedicated to showcasing our indie community. We now publish The Indie – a tabloid magazine featuring our wonderful IndiePro members and have an additional 700+ Independent Cambridge members listed on this site.

In our travels we have discovered many fantastic indie people and businesses right across the city and beyond. In addition to shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, galleries and hotels, we have found an incredible number of crafts people, artists, courses, indies on the web and individuals offering trade and professional services.

Starting out as avid indie supporters, we’ve become just a little bit obsessed!

I just love being a member of Indie Cambridge. Not only has it brought new customers to my door, but it's introduced me to lots of indie businesses and business owners, which has been a most unexpected bonus! Anne and Steve have managed to create a very real and very passionate community of like-minded people: I can't think of a single independent business that wouldn't benefit from being be part of it.

SARAH DECENT, OWNER MODISH SHOES

PHL Publishing Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales. Registered number: 8068542.